What's Up, Up Here? Mar. 1-7

Tip o’ the visor all around to the Mammoth Adventure Slide/Lecture Series, about to wrap up its season on Tuesday, March 5, at its digs at Eagle Lodge. Put together by Nate Greenberg, David Pageand Mammoth Mountaineering’s Dave Talsky, the shows have made our Tuesday evenings joyful. Still free, Talsky sez, as it will be next season. Page’s programminghas taken the series from the purely local to the World at Large, and he quotes a Royal Robbinsemail: “An event such as this unites those who break through the limitations of life in search of inspiration.” Also, big thanks to Mammoth Tourismfor arranging the lodging and transpo, and to MMSAfor the venue. …

The June Mountain Peer Resort Gang, having finished their tour of Vermont, is reported to have found … peers! How their trip ultimately pans out is still way up in the air. …

Meanwhile, here’s downhiller Stacey Cook, heading into this week’s races: “Not my weekend [last race] but my career has always been modeled after the ‘one step back, two steps forward’ saying. Moving on to Garmischwith my chin up and ready to fight back!” …

This just in from our pal Yosemite Steve: The “Night Skies” episode of Yosemite Nature Notesis now up to 300K views and counting. …

If you were looking for a little skating this past week but didn’t find it, it’s only because the Mammoth Ice Rinkhad its last day on Sunday, Feb. 24. Good seasonall-around, in spite of pipe breakdowns and other unforeseen circumstances, sez Rec Manager Stuart Brown, comparable to 2010-11 but not close to last year’s low-snow numbers, when skating really jumped. …

Just for the heck of it: The party you DO NOT want to attend is at Mammoth Hospitalon weekend afternoons. …

Cool rifle rafflefor the Mammoth Biathlon, set to fire up on March 23 and 24: Eastern Sierra Armoryannounces that for junior athletes 15 and under, there will be a raffle for a Savage MkII FVTrifle. “This rifle provides the aspiring junior biathlete with everything they need to start honing their marksmanship skills and is able to grow with them as their biathlon career progresses,” Facebooks armory poobah Clayton Mendel. For athletes aged 16 and up, he says there will be a raffle for a stainless steel Savage MkIIwith the new Eastern Sierra Armory snow sight system in a custom stock of the winner’s choosing. …

That was a good, solid 3.9 quakeWednesday afternoon, epicenter practically right beneath S.R. 6, midway between the junction of U.S. 95 and the Benton Road. Didja feel it? …

First real hint of spring this week was the sweet sound of “cheeseburger” in the air. …

This, from professional networking wonkand second-homeowner Jerry Immel, testing the load on our overworked Internet access in Mammoth: “We were quoted [by Suddenlink] service speeds of 3 mbs download and 1 mbs upload. I went to www.speakeasy.net[2]several times during my stay and measured the network performance. Download varied from 1.33 to 1.78 mbs, quite a bit lower than advertised. Upload was OK, 0.588 vs. 1.0 mbs. That reduction usually doesn’t cause a lot of difficulty unless you routinely do huge uploads. Bottom line, speed varies with occupancy in town and time of day. Overnight or early- to mid-morning is fastest. Afternoon into evening is slower.” …

Bye for now, Jack Colby, the septuagenariandrug dealer of Mammoth who pleaded guilty last Monday to one felony count of possession for sales of cocaine. He’ll do up to three years in local prison. Colby also loses around $20,000 in cash and a 2003 Harley Davidson motorcycle that the cops say is valued at approximately $15,000.